Forums

DII openings in Central (CIAA) Topic

Down to the last hour. If you're sitting on the sidelines, you should know: Johnson C. Smith is a very nice team. I didn't save my scouting on Pilkington, but I only skipped him because he was ineligible. Well, that season's been served and he has 4 years to play at JCS. Skeete redshirted as a freshman last season. I recall Skeete having good potential, but low WE. Now that he's got a redshirt season under his belt, he's worth playing now. Those a great cornerstones around which to build.

You'd probably have a $24,000 budget to try to find a C & PG, but then you could plug them in and build this team into whatever you wished while being competitive this season and building your dynasty!

St. Augustine's has won its second straight national championship and third in four seasons for the conference! The Central will have slightly less bonus cash than previous seasons, but still, 15 NT games isn't too shabby. There are 3 openings to consider:

Johnson C. Smith - 5 open scholarships to use. There are some pretty nice pieces on which to build: McNevin is growing in the right places, Skeete is growing well even with poor WE, and Pilkington has 3 seasons remaining and really solidifies any post defense. A fine opportunity to build a winner!

Livingstone - 3 open scholarships to use to find a PG, but, with that, this team could challenge for the NT. Sure, there's a stink rising off of Mark Westerberg and Walter Vest that will have to be scoured from off the the team, but, once they are removed, the remaining players are all strong contributors.

St. Paul's - only 1 open scholarship, 6 rising seniors. You probably couldn't be blamed for thinking that it'd be best to wait one more season to let this roster sort of...you know...compost. However, wild cards like Reggie Carson and the excellent improvement of Curtis Thompson during his freshman season, mean that now might be the time to take over, ride those seniors, and start practicing the sets you want to run in the future.

Our teams didn't get very far in the tourney, but we still put 6 teams in the NT and got 6 wins. There'll be bonus cash. The Central is on hiatus from the MUSDUC. There are 34 openings at the moment:

St. Paul's - 6 open scholarships on this motion & m2m team. Take a look. There are 5 good players returning; only Loomis deserves to be cut. This position can be improved by leaps and bounds this season. No question. It's worth taking.

Johnson C. Smith - Only 1 open scholarship this season, but this team has a lot going for it. Pilkington & Skeete will develop into studs; each has 2 seasons remaining. Leaf may be too painful to watch for 3 more seasons, but, other than he, the rest of the team will be competitve.

Livingstone - Livingstone is a major project with only 2 open schollies. A decent 5 can be plugged in: Nesmith; Bedolla; Taylor; Stanton; & Mears. There's enough scoring ability that this team could be a threat to make a run in the PIT.

ECSU - There's a complete set of senior starters and 7 open scholarships on this triangle & press team. Ready to compete this season and be built into any type of team you'd like.

Congratulations to rogelio and NCCU, national champs! Not to mention twiddlebug at FSU also making the championship game. FSU's only losses this season were to NCCU. NCCU's only losses this season were to conference-mates. Throw in the top conference RPI (by a mile) and over $9k in postseason cash, and you'd be foolish to consider any other conferences. Come join us in the Central!

The Central dominated this season. A championship game of NCCU vs. FSU and the prohibitive favorite for next season's national championship: St. Augustine's. 22 National Tournament games played by 8 teams. We had one departure and the 3 listed above remain from last season:

Shaw - It's full a triangle & press team now. 4 open scholarships and a B+ prestige to go with all that bonus cash. All recruits by mattstarks, so you know they are high quality. Anyone with DII eligibility in Knight would make a huge mistake by not applying to Shaw!

The rest: Johnson C. Smith, St. Paul's & Livingstone. Johnson C. Smith is best of this crop (5 open scholarships, C Prestige & bonus cash) with 6 players that are worth keeping (I'd be showing James Leaf the door to the financial aid office after I yanked his scholarship). St. Paul's is not worth touching right now, but Livingstone could be manageable after a little house cleaning.

The Central took home the National Championship again. St. Augustine's won for the third time in five seasons. My own NCCU team took a dirt-nap in the first round. A bitter defeat. At any rate, the CIAA has gotten top-heavy. 5 out of the last 7 national championships and 7 out of 14 of the last championship game partipants, but the bottom end of the conference has really dropped off. Still, there's quite a bit of bonus cash to spread around on these teams:

Elizabeth City St. - not sure that señor 'sponge really intended on renewing. A few players are worth keeping: Beverly, Iacovelli & Prado. Very significant gains were made by Dellinger, Prado, West & Foster. It's a project, but there are some decent pieces with which to start. Chances are decent that your move to this school will bump up that prestige. Taken back

Johnson C. Smith has only 2 schollies available, but there are 5 rising seniors (among which McGlinchey may return for of 5th season). This team won't completely tank during your turnaround, but there's some housecleaning to be done first.

Livingstone has only 3 open schollies. The 3 rising seniors are pretty good, but the underclassmen are wretched. This team could be stripped down to Boyd, Cameron & Jameson and that would be an improvement. With that done, sign 6 freshmen, rinse & repeat, bango! Livingstone would be a powerhouse.

St. Paul's is a perpetual doormat. It will take a Herculean effort to make that post into a contender. Taken! (I may have undersold this slot - 2 nice guards, but not much else!)

No national championship this season, but there are still only 2 openings left and plenty of bonus cash to spend:

Johnson C. Smith - Primed perfectly for a new start. 6 open scholarships (McGlinchey should return for a 5th), but, yeah, Steve Allen probably needs to be shown the door. There will be no returning sophomores, so the class structure has some interesting possibilities. Let's face it though, you'll be starting 4 or 5 freshmen at this post, but there will be plenty of cash available to make it work.

Livingstone - only 4 open schollies on this team, but...well...ok I admit it. You jump on board a ship that hasn't hit rock bottom just yet. This program needs a blanket and a bowl of soup more than anything else. Choose 3 players to keep, show the rest the door, and start from scratch.

The CIAA rejoins the MUSDUC this season. Besides that, it was a fairly disappointing performance in the NT for the conference. 7 teams in the NT, but only 1 got as far as the Elite 8. Still a good location, but...ah...how do I say it...the 3 openings aren't in great shape. if Seattle or Florida Gulf Coast are still on the board, then you'd be a bit foolish to take over one of these D+ Prestige teams with 4 open schollies each:

St. Paul's - Hunt returns for a 5th. The freshmen and sophs are seeing some good improvement, but I'm not sold on the idea that they develop into a m2m team. I don't hate some of those players in a zone or press. Hewes & King might develop into a decent backcourt in a motion & zone. Mauricio will certainly never be able to handle m2m defense, but he might be ok in either the press or zone.Sold!!!!

J.C.S. - Heckman looks good...Hatcher could be a useful backup player...you probably cut the other 2 returning sophs and develop your own team from there.

Livingstone - What can be said about Livingstone that hasn't already been said about chlamydia? Apply cleansing fire...what am I a doctor?

Virginia Union brought home the hardware this season. V.U. had to beat Fayetteville State in the Final Four to do it. So, yeah, there's some bonus cash. We've got 10 strong coaches and the conference boasts 6 out of the last 10 DII National Champions. Here are the openings:

Johnson C. Smith - This is the time to take over J.C.S. 6 schollie' budget plus tourney cash. There are 2 or 3 good players on the squad already. This team can be turned around in short order if you try!

Livingstone - The conference's perennial tire-fire is actually only smouldering right now. 5 open schollies and bonus cash. Burns and Maynes look decent and there are few other players that might be useful. If not now, when?

We've got a bunch of post season games; a Final Four team, a couple more Elite 8 and a few PIT including one in the PI championship game. There's some bonus cash. Still participating in the MUSDUC. The openings are:

Yup. Same openings as last time around. Each has 5 open scholarships and plenty of bonus cash available. Briefly, Livingstone remains a tire-fire; Johnson C. Smith has some decent players returning, including Sam Perry (whether you like it or not); and Shaw.

Shaw's a different story. Morgan & Segars can handle the ball and drain threes. There are some useful players and there's a little bit of existing press IQ. Take it over, but don't play man-to-man, switch to press and this position could contend quickly.

Well, Shaw's been taken and is in season 2 of a rebuild. You can join this excellent D2 conference - containing perennial Final Four participants and National-Champs-On-The-Regular - and get in on it as well! And yes, it'll be a rebuild... to say the least. To quote our Esteemed Conference Captain and Most Recent Reproducer rogelio (from our Coaches Corner):

We have a great conference here. I would post to try to fill the last 2 openings, but we just had our 2nd child (so I'm a little limited on time) and Livingstone & JCS are dumpster fires at this point. I hope someone fills one anyway!

We all do! Now, keep in mind, there's a bunch of postseason cash (as usual).

So there's Livingstone. Five scholarships this season and two seniors. Junior Ollie McWhorter can be cut immediately, and sophomore Vic Jacobs isn't worth a damn either. Fellow soph James Clements is worth a partial damn, as he can get you a few points while you rack up losses. Might as well not cut him *this* sesaon, at least. You can make this team your own pretty quickly.

Then you have Johnson C. Smith. Only four openings this season, but five seniors graduating. The remaining three players are terrible sophomores. Cut any or all. Like Livingstone, you'll have all your own recruits in here pronto.

So... got a couple seasons' worth of patience? Want to join a top D2 conference in a very very strong D2 world? Come hang out with us in the CIAA and help us rack up some more Championships!

The Central got jacked-up in the NT this past season. Still, 7 in and plenty of tourney cash earned, but we under-performed. No question. However, there are 4 openings; 2 at which every coach with D2 eligibility in Knight should be jumping:

Virginia Union - 6 open schollie, bonus cash and an A prestige. milwood won the National Championship with this zone team in season 70, but he's decided to take a break and his loss is your gain. Those 3 returning Seniors and 3 Juniors will put this team into the NT again! Take a careful look at Phil Holmes & Bryan Zelek...just look...Taken!

Shaw - Zero open scholarships this season and Zero open next season. So, who cares about prestige? Just sit back and let the bonus cash pile up. Not sure why aardvark left that team after setting up a triangle & press monster. 6 returning Juniors and 6 returning Sophomores. Take it over and it should get to the tourney on auto-pilot for the next 2 seasons.Taken!

J.C.S. and Livingstone remain smoldering tire-fires. Although J.C.S. at least has 6 open schollies, so it could be turned around, but only if taken over this season.

The season's over. Bowie St. made a great run to the Championship Game, but fell a little short and Virginia St. made a Final Four appearance. My own NCCU team had it's most disappointing season in years, but still eked out a Sweet 16 appearance and the conference as a whole put 7 in the NT and 2 in the PIT. Good bonus cash is available. Join us to help dominate a great D2 world! Here are the openings:

St. Paul's - 3 open scholarships and a solid B prestige for this motion & man team. There are some very solid players on this team with especially strong senior guards. If you have DII eligibility, you're losing money by not taking over this team!

Livingstone - hear me out on this one... If I didn't think that NCCU will be a title contender next season, I'd offer to get bought out to move over to this team. Sure, there are only 2 open scholarships to match with that D+ prestige. And, yes, it's been 75 seasons of SimAI coached futility only very briefly interrupted by indifferent human coaching. Here's the thing: there are players on that team! Look at this lineup: C - Earl; PF - Mitchell; SF - Burress; SG - Greene; PG - Clements. If you cut everyone else, excepting Jacobs and maybe Denny, then you've got the core of a team that can compete. Take a couple walk-ons and you have 6 open scholarships the following season and can do some damage!

The big switch would be to start practicing Zone at 25 minutes. That team will struggle to play man defense in this tough conference. I would continue practicing man and motion evenly (maybe 10 each) until I had any recruit's man IQ to C-, then I'd switch all practice to motion & zone only (e.g. 20/25), but still run man to start each game through the NC play. Once the conference schedule started, then go nuts with the defensive gameplan. Play man to start the game with end of game settings at 2-3 zone, in one game. The next, play 3-2 zone with end of game settings to 2-3 when losing or man when winning. Just get weird.

I'm excited by the possibilities with that Livingstone team!

Oh yeah...J.C.S. would leave skid marks on the bowl. No getting around that. Taken!!!

I suppose it was a par post-season for the Central: F4, E8, S16, 2- 2nd rounds & a 1st round exit. For the first time in a while the South Central was far stronger than the North (top to bottom). With kevo moving to St. Paul's, here are the two openings:

Virginia Union - only 2 open schollies, but this team has just a gang of returning foreign students. Sang Chiong & Edmundo Esposito showed big improvement last season. There's plenty to build on with this team, but there might be one or two roster "adjustments" needed to make sure there's enough playing time to go around on this zone team. Filled, milwood is back!

Livingstone - Ah...the old tire fire. 5 openings will give plenty of budget to address needs. Probably the way to do this is to rescind Wood's & Parker's scholarships and bring in 4 or 5 freshmen. Heck, promise them starts! The key will be to assure Livingstone has 6 open scholarships for next season. Doing that you can either continue to play man or switch to zone. 4 or 5 seasons from now...Final Four or bust! Filled!!! Welcome back to the conference aardvark!